Betrayal
by futuremrsbates99
Summary: After Sarah leaves service she decides it's time to finally tell Lady Grantham the truth, no matter the consequence, but does Cora have the strength to watch her ladies' maid imprisoned? O'Brien/Cora friendship? Really short piece (Murder references)


It arrived with my breakfast, brought by the new ladies maid, whom I hadn't really taken a fancy to. I opened it to find out who would send _me_ a letter but there was no return address, so I began to read it:

_My Ladyship,_

_I am writing this letter as a personal extension to my resignation, I must apologize profusely for leaving without notice but when you have read this letter and know the reason for my departure I doubt you will any longer be in want of my services. Before this letter becomes an explanation, I would first like to express my thanks to you and Lord Grantham for employing me these past fifteen years. I truly have enjoyed working for you and I doubt I could have served a finer lady than you, I have been honoured to serve you for all of these years and truly appreciate everything you have done for me._

_A long time ago, I did something which I will never be able to forgive myself for and would never expect you to forgive me for, I murdered someone close to your heart. It may not have been directly but I still did it, however regretted my actions were and however remorseful my after thoughts were, I did kill your son. I don't wish to speak in detail of the event but you know what I am writing about. I was the cause for your fall, and therefore, by extension the cause for your loss. Please know that it was never my intention to cause you such pain and stress, but no matter the situation, the actuality of the matter is that it was, by all means, my fault._

_Seen as I have now left your home and will no longer be residing there, I believe it is my solemn duty to leave you in complete honesty and shed light on a few shadowed stories of my past. Everyone who ever worked alongside me and Mr. Barrow know that we had formed a close friendship, if you could call it that, and I will admit that I did obtain information about the both of us. Although I don't want to leave your ladyship on bad terms, I believe you have a right to know the truth about everything that ever went on under your roof. Your family was stolen from and certain employees were falsely accused, though none of these allegations can be referred directly to me, I will not deny being aware of certain things that happened downstairs which you stayed oblivious to. _

_I will accept any form of punishment you see fit whether it be dealt with on a private level, or if you wish to refer this to the police for them to seek justice on your behalf. Please know that I apologize with the utmost sincerity for any harm I caused, and feel redeemed to have finally told the truth about why I had to leave. I could not bear to look you in the eye anymore knowing that there had been so much loss in the house and I was being dishonest about certain factors._

_Yours Faithfully,_

_Sarah O'Brien, Former Employee_

Oh my! I thought, what on earth was I going to have to do! Really I couldn't tell Robert, he'd hit the roof and want to try and get her imprisoned and honestly, even after everything that woman had done I still cared for her. A lady and her maid form a certain bond that can't be very easily broken, even by betrayal to some extent and it seemed that even something on this scale was not cause for O'Brien's pain, dear O'Brien who had served me well for so many years yet been hiding the fact that she had been the cause behind one of the worst things ever to happen to me.

It was time to come to a decision, soon I would be getting up and I had to figure out what I intended to do and whatever I decided I would have to burn the letter if I didn't want Robert to find out about all of this. Which surely I wouldn't want in any case, that was taking it too far, wasn't it? Yes, most definitely, I would never subject my worst enemy to wrath of my husband on rampage! Getting in touch with her would be easily enough surely, she obviously had no intention of staying in hiding for the rest of her days so that she couldn't be found she had said she was willing to accept any punishment I thought fit so I would get in touch with her, that was the answer. Talking it through was usually the way to sort everything out, then between us we could come to a compromise.


End file.
